Snow-making unit



R. L. TORRENS SNOW-MAKING UNIT Filed Aug. 18, 1964 Jan. 17, 1967 UnitedStates Patent 3,298,612 SNOW-MAKING UNIT Robert L. Torrens, W.S.S. StarRte, Liberty, NY. 12754 Filed Aug. 18, 1964, Ser. No. 390,301 2 Claims.(Cl. 239-402) Thisinvention relates to apparatus for the production ofartificial snow. More particularly it relates to an improved snow-makingunit or gun which provides a constant, high volume production of dry,finely textured artificial snow.

Basically speaking, the general principle governing the operation ofartificial snow-making machines are well known. Streams of water andcompressed air are forcedmixed and compressed and then ejected from anozzle, forming droplets of water which turn into artificial snow uponcontacting ambient atmospheric temperatures of 32 F. or lower.

Presently there are three basic types of snow guns. The first type is aconstant diameter pipe with a nozzle, consisting of a washer creating arelatively smaller diameter opening at the end. Perpendicularly attachedto the pipe in the shape of a T is a second constant diameter pipecarrying high pressure compressed air. The air and water collide and mixunder extreme conditions of turbulence, and continue through the lengthof the first pipe in a compressed state. As the mixture contacts thewasher at the end of the first pipe, there is a further compression andthen an expansion as the mixture passes through the opening in thewasher and into the atmosphere in the form of Water droplets. This typeof snow gun is simple to manufacture, but the resultant artificial snowis wet and coarse. The wetness is due to the incomplete mixing of theair and water, and the coarseness is due partially to the incompletemixing and partially due to inefficient expansion. Snow slopes which arecoated by this type of gun are relatively icy and the excess water tendsto gravitate toward the base of the slope and form an ice layer.

The second type of gun has the exact same T pipe construction as thefirst with the addition of a long tube attached to the end of the pipeand tapered at both ends. The purpose of the tube was to improve thequality of the artificial snow, but in actual use it did not work. Theresultant snow was wet, coarse and lumpy.

The third type of gun has a single, central pipe dispensing a stream ofwater. Two oppositely disposed jet air streams are directed angularlyagainst the water stream causing mixing. The resultant artificial snowis of a dry and fine quality, but is produced in too small quantities tobe practicable. The gun is generally used to top off a slope.

Accordingly, it is among the principal objects of the present inventionto provide an improved snow-making unit which will produce snow insufiiciently large volumes for commercial operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved snowgun that will manufacture artificial snow which will be dry and fine intexture.

The invention comprises a Water pipe with a valve to allow adjustment offlow for varying weather conditions, and a compressed air pipe. Thewater pipe and compressed air pipe meet at an acute angle, allowing asmoother mixing transition, preventing icing and backflow along the airpipe, and providing a longer exposure period to induce the Water toevaporate into the air, causing a resultant temperature drop. Themixture flows into an inner chamber and is intercepted by a deflector.This sets up a turbulent eddying motion. The mixture then strikes aseries of angularly disposed elliptical bafiles. These bafiles serve twovery important functions; they give the mixture stream a corkscrewmotion and they pick up the "ice excess water from the mixture whichWorks its way to the leading edge of the bafile where it is picked up bythe stream and mixed and evaporated with excess air in the generatedmotion. The mixture is then compressed and passes out into the ambientatmosphere through a nozzle whose opening may be adjusted according tothe varying weather conditions. The entire inner chamber and joinderjunction are enclosed in a thermal jack to prevent freezing of themixture and the formation of frost on the outer surface of the innerchamber. A bleederline is taken off the compressed air pipe before thejoinder junction and passes along the outer surface of the inner chamberto provide extra warming for the dead air space within the thermaljacket. At the nozzle the bleeder line branches into two exhaust nozzleswhich are angled into the fog and slightly offset from each other.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a device ofthe character described which will be inexpensive to manufacture, easyto use, and durable in use to a high degree.

A feature of the present invention are the baffles which insure completeand thorough mixing and evaporation of the air and Water.

These objects and features, as well as other incident-a1 ends andadvantages, will more fully appear in the progress of this disclosure,and be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, to which reference will be made in the specification,similar reference characters have been employed to designatecoresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view, partly cut away, of an improvedsnow-making unit embodying my invention.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view, partly in cross section, showingthe relation of the baffles to each other.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary view showing the detail of thebaffies.

FIGURE 5 is a view taken along the plane 55 as seen from FIGURE 4.

Turning to FIGURE 1 there is shown an improved snow-making unit 10 whichcomprises broadly a water pipe 12 with an exterior valve 14, acompressed air pipe 16, a mixing section 18 supported on a bipod 20, anda nozzle section 22.-

More particularly the water pipe 12 may be made of any material for useat low temperatures, such as steel, fiberglass or plastic, and has athreaded sleeve 24 at its end 26 for securement to a water supply line(not shown). Mounted above the sleeve is an exterior valve 14, theconstruction of which is well known in the art. The proximity of thevalve to the gun allows adjustment of the rate of flow of water tocompensate for varying conditions of temperature and humidity.

.The compressed air pipe 16 may be made of the same or similar materialas the water pipe 12 and has a threaded sleeve 28 at its end 30 forsecurement to a compressed air supply line (not shown).

The water pipe and air pipe are angled to the mixing section 18 toprovide a force vector which maintains a constant pressure on theanchoring spur 32 to keep it firmly anchored in the ground.

The two pipes meet at a joinder junction 34 and form an .acute angle ofabout 30 therebetween. This angle is not critical and may be of anyvalue from or less, however, it has been found that the less the joinderangle, the greater the period of initial contact. This greater length ofcontact provides a more complete evaporation and mixing of the air andwater at the initial stage causing a temperature drop and tends toeliminate freezing and backing up along the air pipe. The initialmixture then travels through a pipe 36 which is the same diameter as theair pipe alone, causing an initial compression of the mixture. Asuitable inner diameter for this pipe may be one (1") inch.

Pipe 36 is secured to an inner chamber 38 passing through an opening 40in an end plate 42 which has an outer surface 44 and an inner surface46. The inner chamber has an outer surface 48 and an inner surface 50.The inner diameter of chamber 38 is relatively larger than pipe 36 andmay have an inner diameter of 2% inches.

Directly facing the incoming mixture jet is a deflector 51 comprising adish 52 with a centrally located spire 54 axially positioned withrespect to the jet stream. The dish is secured into position by means ofstrut 55 radiating from the outer circumference 56 and welded orotherwise attached to the inner surface 50 of the chamber 38 with aspace therebetween equal or greater in area than the cross-sectionalarea of pipe 36. The front of the deflector 51 is flat, creating apartial vacuum which assists in drawing the deflected stream forward.

Positioned forward of the deflector 51 within the inner chamber 38 are aseries of angularly disposed elliptical batfles 58. Each baflle has aforward surface 60 and a rearward surface 62 with a common leading edge63. The bafiles are paired and are angled With respect to the innersurface and axis of the inner chamber 38 and each other, and may have ahole 64 located thereon. After the last baflies the inner chambernarrows to a relatively smaller opening, either by a taper or roundedend. In FIGURE 2 a tapered section 66 ends at the nozzle section 22 withan inner thread 65. Varying sizes of threaded nozzles 67 may be fittedtherein to vary the diameter of the nozzle opening in accordance withvarying weather conditions. A bleeder line 68 which may have a diameterof /s" is taken off the air pipe 16 before the joinder junction 34 andis secured to the outer surface 48 of the inner chamber 38 for itsentire length just before the end of the nozzle, the bleeder linebranches into two A1" lines 70, 72 with ends 74, 76 spaced from thenozzle 22, angled toward it but offset from each other.

The entire inner chamber 38, joinder junction 34, and bleeder line 68are enclosed by a thermal jacket 78 which has an outer surface 80, aninner surface 82, and end walls 84, 86. The thermal jacket preventsfrosting on or freezing in the inner chamber 38. A bipod 88 is pivotallysecured to the outer surface of the thermal jacket by any standardbearing arrangement 90.

In operation the air and water are initially mixed, evaporated andcompressed in the joinder junction 34. The mixture stream then hits thedeflector, and forms a swirling turbulent eddy current which due to thehigh pressure and partial vacuum created behind the deflector movesforward and contacts the first set of batfles. The excess or non-mixedwater within the mixture strikes the forward surface 60 of the bafflesand, due to the angular displacement and corkscrew motion of themixture, the water moves to the edge 63 where it is picked up and mixedand evaporated with the excess air. A commercially acceptable snow canbe produced with one pair of baffles, but it has been found that fourpair of baflles provide a finely textured, dry snow with optimumoperating conditions. The holes in the baflles assist in increasing theevaporation process, and hence accentuate the temperature drop.

The mixture then is compressed and passes to the nozzle section 22.During the period of mixing, evaporation and compression the mixture isconstantly being cooled due to the evaporation caused by the continuousmixing 4 and exposure of the water to the air, and when it leaves thenozzle and expands to form a fog it is in a supercooled state. The airjets coming from lines 70, 72 strike the expanding fog breaking it intoan even finer mist. The resultant artificial snow is very finelytextured and dry, and can be produced in large quantities.

The induction of water into the air, causing continuous evaporationthroughout the entire operation, provides a large temperature drop. Thisproduces excellent artificial snow with the assistance of a heretoforeunutilized phenomena in the artificial snow-making art.

I Wish it to be understood that I do not consider the invention limitedto the precise details of structure shown and set forth in thisspecification, for obvious modifications will occur to those skilled inthe art to which the invention pertains.

I claim:

1. An improved artificial snow-making unit comprising (a) an innerchamber having an outer surface and an inner surface and an end wall;

(b) a two pipe joinder junction secured to the end wall, one of thepipes receiving a stream of water and the other of the pipes receiving astream of compressed air;

(c) a valve located in the pipe receiving the stream of water to varythe rate of flow according to'humidity and temperature conditions;

((1) a dish with a centrally located dimple thereon secured to the innersurface of the inner chamber and having an outer circumference spacedtherefrom, the dimple in axial alignment with the joinder junction;

(e) at least one pair of elliptical baffles-angularly disposed to eachother, and secured to and angularly disposed to the inner surface of theinner chamber;

(f) exit means secured to the inner chamber, comprising nozzle withmeans to vary the diameter of the nozzle opening according to theweather conditions, and

(g) a thermal jacket secured to the piping and nozzle and enclosing thepiping, joinder junction, and nozzle section.

2. The invention according to claim 1, including a bleeder line securedto the compressed air pipe behind the joinder junction, in abuttingcontact with the outer surface of the inner chamber, and branching intotwo nozzle lines with ends offset from each other and angularly disposedtoward the axis of nozzle, outwardly of the nozzle.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 998,762 7/1911Faller 239-403 1,813,733 7/1931 Freeman 239-597 1,874,002 8/1932 Fantz239403 2,046,592 7/ 1936 Tracy 239-402 2,358,386 9/1944 Doll 2394272,359,722 10/ 1944 Zink 23 9402 2,676,471 4/ 1954 Pierce 62-74 2,968,164l/ 1961 Hanson 62--74 3,010,660 11/1961 Barrett. 3,146,951 9/ 1964Brown. 3,194,500 7/1965 Byrd.

M. HENSON WOOD, JR., Primary Examiner.

ROBERT A. OLEARY, Examiner.

W. E. WAYNER, R. S. STROBEL, Assistant Examiners.

1. AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL SNOW-MAKING UNIT COMPRISING (A) AN INNERCHAMBER HAVING AN OUTER SURFACE AND AN INNER SURFACE AND AN END WALL;(B) A TWO PIPE JOINDER JUNCTION SECURED TO THE END WALL, ONE OF THEPIPES RECEIVING A STREAM OF WATER AND THE OTHER OF THE PIPES RECEIVING ASTREAM OF COMPRESSED AIR; (C) A VALVE LOCATED IN THE PIPE RECEIVING THESTREAM OF WATER TO VARY THE RATE OF FLOW ACCORDING TO HUMIDITY ANDTEMPERATURE CONDITIONS; (D) A DISH WITH A CENTRALLY LOCATED DIMPLETHEREON SECURED TO THE INNER SURFACE OF THE INNER CHAMBER AND HAVING ANOUTER CIRCUMFERENCE SPACED THEREFROM, THE DIMPLE IN AXIAL ALIGNMENT WITHTHE JOINDER JUNCTION; (E) AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF ELLIPTICAL BAFFLESANGULARLY DISPOSED TO EACH OTHER, AND SECURED TO AND ANGULARLY DISPOSEDTO THE INNER SURFACE OF THE INNER CHAMBER; (F) EXIT MEANS SECURED TO THEINNER CHAMBER, COMPRISING NOZZLE WITH MEANS TO VARY THE DIAMETER OF THENOZZLE OPENING ACCORDING TO THE WEATHER CONDITIONS, AND (G) A THERMALJACKET SECURED TO THE PIPING AND NOZZLE AND ENCLOSING THE PIPING,JOINDER JUNCTION, AND NOZZLE SECTION.